Lucky Bugger
by ninjaturtle
Summary: Brumby is back in DC and comes to realise just how much he missed out on when he lost Mac to Harm


Lucky Bugger

Disclaimer: how many 15 year olds do you know who own their own TV series?

Summary: Brumby is back in DC and comes to realise just how much he missed out on when he lost Mac to Harm.

Spoilers: Up to just after Adrift, but no further. This is at the beginning of season 8, after Bud has been returned to active duty. The accident did happen but other things between Brumby and that have happened and things are different....just try to bear with me here. 

A/N: Ok peoples, this is just random fluff, cos I like fluff. Now lets all take our imaginations out of our pockets and use them to pretend that Singer didn't come to JAG until _after_ the whole Brumby affair. That's about all, you'll find out the rest later. And so, on with the show. 

~~~~~~~~~~

As an unspoken rule no one ever really mentioned Mic Brumby. To most of the people at JAG, Mac especially and Harm too, Brumby was nothing but a painful and unnecessary disruption to their lives. True, he had been nice enough, but his presence did nothing to resolve the tension between the office's two senior attorneys. If anything, it created _more _tension, more arguments, not to mention that every time Commander Rabb and Commander Brumby were in the same room together the temperature seemed to drop by at least 10 degrees, and boy, if looks could kill..... 

So as it was, when Lieutenant Singer ran into Mic Brumby in a bar one evening, she had no idea who he was. That is, no idea who he was in regards to everyone at JAG. She of course was aware that the Colonel had been engaged at one point, however she wasn't really interested in her fellow officers' personal lives so she didn't bother to press for details. Had she known of Brumby's identity when she met him, she would have perhaps been more reluctant to date him. But she didn't. 

Wednesday, 0945

JAG headquarters

Lieutenant Loren Singer walked through the bullpen looking curiously around. It seemed that no one was at their desks, although she knew that most of the staff were in today. Even the Commander's office was empty, although she could see the Colonel sitting behind her desk working solidly. As she entered the break room the mystery as to where the staff had disappeared to was solved. It seemed that half the staff had decided on that particular moment to take their coffee break. Harm and Sturgis were there, as were Bud, Harriet, Tiner and even Coates, who had recently come back from the Seahawk. 

"Hello Lt. Are you coming this Saturday?" Asked Harriet, her ever present smile not wavering, despite her dislike for the Lt. Although she didn't like her, Harriet felt somewhat sorry for Loren, who made it so hard for herself and didn't even bother trying to make people like her. 

"Saturday? What's on Saturday?" 

"The Admiral's holding a barbecue lunch at his house to celebrate Bud's being returned to active duty. Saturday, 1130." Mac told her as she squished into the break room along with everyone else. 

"That's right." Harriet chimed in. "Everyone's invited. You will come won't you?" she said earnestly. Harriet really did want Singer to go, because she thought that maybe if she came along she might learn to get along better with the people from the office. 

"Besides, I can't wait to meet this new boyfriend of yours." Mac added, grinning mischiefly. She and Harriet had been talking to singer a few weeks ago when Singer had happened to mention her new boyfriend. She hadn't told them any details about him, but they were quite curious to know what kind of man Singer went out with. 

She weighed it up. On one hand she could keep herself happy and just spend some time her new boyfriend, but seem anti-social. On the other hand, she could keep everyone else happy, still spend some time with Mic and make the Admiral think that she was actually interested in the welfare of her fellow officers. Definitely the second choice. Now all she had to do was convince Mic to join her. 

Saturday, 1140

Near the Admiral's house

Mic looked out the windows, wondering why the scenery looked so familiar. 

"Loren, where are we going again?"

"I told you, it's a barbecue at my CO's house."

"Hang on a second. CO? You only said your boss last time. I thought you were just a lawyer."

"I am, I'm just a Navy lawyer."

Mic mind went into overdrive as he weighed up the possibility of Singer working at JAG. He decided that it was highly likely that she did work for JAG, in which case he was just about to have a nice little reunion with is ex-fiance and the man who was the reason she never married him. It suddenly dawned on him why the streets they were driving looked so familiar. Thinking of JAG had of course made him thing of Sarah and thinking of her had lead to thoughts of their engagement party....which was when he had realised that they were on their way to the Admiral's house. 

Mac blanched "Loren, I don't want to go to this thing. Please, take me back, let me out here and I'll call a taxi. Anything, I don't care, just as long as I don't have to go there with you."

Stopped at the traffic lights, Loren gave him a strange look. 

"Why? You were fine with it just a minute ago."

"Yeah, that was until I found out that you were in the Navy."

"What, so just because I'm in the Navy you suddenly don't want to go with me?" she asked, putting her foot onto the accelerator a bit harder than she had meant to, making the car take off with a sudden lurch. 

"No, it's not that. It's just....your CO, it's Admiral Chegwidden, isn't it? You work at the JAG."

Loren looked at him strangely our of the corner of her eye. "How did you know that? I never told you that."

"No, I just worked it out."

"How?"

"Never mind that. All I'm saying is that I _really_ don't want to be there. Just trust me on this one."

"Well as much as you don't want to go, you promised me and I'm going to hold you to that promise. Everyone's expecting me to have my boyfriend and if I turn up without you then I'll be a laughing stock. The Colonel would never leave me alone."

"Colonel Mackenzie? You've mentioned me to her? By name?"

"No, if course not. To them you're mystery man."

"Ah, that explains why you haven't dumped me yet."

"What are you talking about?"

Mic sighed. "Nothing. Just ask Sarah. She'll tell you all you want to know. Oh, and about you being the laughing stock of the party if you'd have gone without me. I think that you'll be worse off with me."

"What? Why?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Besides, we're here. There's the Admiral's house just up ahead."

So he knew where the Admiral's house was. This was just getting scarier and scarier by the minute. Loren shook her head. "I'm not even going to ask." she muttered, pulling up to the curb.

Saturday,1152

The Admiral's backyard

Singer and Brumby walked around to the back of the house to find everyone standing around talking and having a good time. The first person to notice Singer was Harriet, who walked up to her, her usual smile in place. 

"Loren, good to see you. I'm glad you could make it. Where's your boyfriend?"

Loren looked behind her and caught sight of Mic skulking around in the shadows. She motioned for him to come out. 

"Harriet I'd like you to meet my boyfriend..."

"Brumby" Harriet interrupted when she saw who Singer had brought with her. She turned back to singer. "You brought _him!?_" 

"Why shouldn't I? He's my boyfriend."

Harriet shook her head at Brumby. "She doesn't know, does she? You haven't told her." 

Brumby at least had to decency to look embarrassed. "Uh, well, no."

"What? What is it that you're not telling me?"

"Ask the Colonel." Came the simultaneous reply from both Brumby and Harriet. 

"Fine then, I will." she huffed and stalked off. Brumby shrugged an followed at a distance.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mac was sitting laid back on a low deck chair in the yard when she saw Singer approaching. 

"Hi Loren. Good that you could make it."

Singer just looked at stack of presents that were piled up in Mac's lap and raised an eyebrow. Mac shrugged.

"Seeing as it was in honour of Bud's returning to active duty, some of the staff members felt that they ought to get him gifts. 

"Oh."

"But never mind that. You looked like you wanted to ask me something."

"Yeah I did. Actually its about my boyfriend. He seems to know some of the people here and every time I ask him how, he just says 'ask the Colonel' and won't say anything else."

This time it was Mac who raised her eyebrow. "Really? Well where is he? Are you going to introduce me? I can't tell you how I know him if I don't know who he is."

Singer shrugged and turned around and motioned for someone behind her to join her. Mac looked up at her and blanched as Mic Brumby appeared beside singer.

Mac blinked at him and stared. Finally regaining her composure, she managed to get out one word. 

"Hi"

"Hello Sarah. It's been a while."

"Uh, yeah. What are you doing out from Australia?"

Mic shrugged. "Got sent here for an assignment."

"I see."

Singer watched them with a great interest. "So how do you guys know each other?"

Mac looked at Mic incredulously. "You didn't tell her Mic? You mean to say that you've been dating her and you didn't even tell her?"

At this Singer lost it. "Alright, that's it. What is it that everyone else seems to know that I don't?" She shouted.

It was Mic who spoke up. "Uh, Loren, meet Sarah Mackenzie, my ex-fiance."

For once in her life, Loren had nothing to say. 

"Uh, Sarah, do you think that we could talk? Alone." He motioned to an unoccupied shady corner of the backyard and Mac nodded. 

"Sure thing. Just as soon as I can get up." she said. "Hold on a sec. HARM!" she hollered across the yard. 

Harm appeared just momenta later. "You alright? Do you need something?"

"Yeah I just need to get up, so I can have a talk with my old friend here." she said.

"Old friend? Whe-" he stopped as he saw Brumby standing on the other side of Mac. Harm blinked, as if doubting that he was actually seeing Brumby standing there. An uncomfortable silence followed. It was Mac who finally said something.   


"Harm, this is Loren's boyfriend."

"Riiiiiight." was the only reply she got. Mac rolled her eyes.

  
"Harm I'm just going some place quite to talk to Mic. That is, if you'll hurry up and help me up."

"Sure thing. Here let me take those from you." he said, taking the presents and putting them on a nearby table then grabbing her outstretched arms and hauling her up. 

"You okay with this?" He asked her, concerned.

Mac nodded. "I'm fine. I think that we need to do this, both of us. Maybe now that we've both moved on we'll be able to understand each other's point of view now."

"Okay then. But if you need me to kick his six then just holler." he told her, kissing the tip of her nose.

She gave Brumby, who was busy looking around the yard, a poke to let him know that she was ready to talk. He turned around and stared at Mac.

"You're pregnant." he said, his eyes taking in her 7 month pregnant belly.

Mac raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, thanks for pointing that out to me. I might have missed it otherwise."

"How did it not notice that before?" he wondered out loud

"Probably something to do with the large pile of presents in my lap at the time."

"Of course."

They moved over to the shady corner where they could talk privately without being overheard. She knew exactly what question he was going to ask first and sure enough, as soon as they were out of hearing range he asked it.

"So who is he? Who's the incredibly lucky guy?"

Mac smiled sadly at him. "I think you already know that, Mic, but you're hoping that I'm going to give you a different answer. So you tell me. Who is it?"

"Rabb." he muttered. He had of course known that she was in love with Harm all along, only it seemed that she hadn't. How that worked, he had no idea, but hey, that was life, always full of mysteries. 

"I'm sorry Mic. I really am. I'm sorry that I had to put you through everything I did and I'm sorry that I was so selfish that I kept pulling you along on a string."

Mic shook his head. "Everyone else could see that you were in love with him. Why couldn't you? And as for being sorry, I'm sorry to. For trying to force your hand. It was an unconscious thing on my behalf but looking back I realise that what I was doing was basically saying 'you owe me because I have done all this for you and moved here because of you and the least you could do is be grateful and love me'. I apologise for that. But most of all, Sarah, I'm just sorry that we couldn't make it work."

Mac tried to choke back a sob, but it was too hard and she began to cry, right there in front of Mic, and while he was giving such a nice speech too.

Mic looked alarmed. "I'm so sorry Sarah. Did I upset you? Oh dear, maybe I should leave."

"No Mic, don't go. It's nothing to do with what you said. Well it is, but not in the way you think. It's just that you're being so sweet and it's just too much." she said, crying again. "I'm sorry Mic. It's just my hormones are all over the place and I cry at the drop of a hat at the moment. I'm really sorry." she said, now laughing.

~~~~~~~~~~

Harm was standing chatting to the rest of the group, who had by this time noticed Brumby's presence, when Loren approached him. 

"Um, sir?"

"It's Harm, Loren. We're not on duty."

"Uh, right. Well sir...uh, Harm, I was wondering if you could tell me what it is about Mic that everyone else seems to know and I don't."

"He hasn't told you?"

Singer balled her fists, fighting the urge not to scream. "Aaaarhg. That's what the Colonel and Lt. Simms both said when I asked them and Lt. Simms and Mic both said to ask the Colonel. I figured that seeing as you're married to the Colonel...uh Mac, then maybe you could tell me."

"I don't know, Loren. Either Brumby or Mac would be the best ones to tell you about it. After all, it was all about them..."

"But they're still talking. Please, Harm."

Harm gave in. Anyway, it would save Mac having to answer her questions later and he knew that in her state she would most likely end up in tears if she had to tell Singer about it. Not to mention that Singer wouldn't be the best person to try and comfort Mac when she was crying.

"All right then. But I'm not going into it in detail. You can get details off Mic later, okay? Oh, and don't bother Mac over it. If she wants to talk about it then fine but if not then just leave her, okay?"

Singer nodded, eager to hear what tale Harm had to tell.

"It all started a number of years ago when Brumby came over here on an officer exchange program...."

~~~~~~~~~~

Mac and Brumby finished up their talking with a hug and an assurance of no hard feelings from either party. They made their way back to where Harm and Singer were talking, stopping many times along the way for Brumby to greet people. They reached Harm and Singer, who had finished talking about Mac and Brumby's engagement and were now talking about nothing in particular. 

"Hey there." Mac greeted Harm as she approached.

"Hi sweetheart. I've just finished explaining to Loren why everyone here seems to know Brumby and why none of them know whether to be glad or not to see him."

"Ah, right."

Harm put his arms around her and rested his hands on her swollen belly. She laced her fingers through his and they stood there and continued to talk to Loren and Brumby.

~~~~~~~~~~

Brumby and Singer sat in chairs on the edge of the yard, enjoying the peace and quiet. Singer had her eyes shut and Brumby was staring at the group of people directly in front of him. Well, not all the people. Just two of them. 

He watched as Mac threw her head back and laughed at something Harriet had said, her laughter reaching his ears on the other side of the yard. It was a beautiful sound, really. He watched as she leaned in and whispered something back to Harriet and the two of them started giggling together like a pair of schoolgirls. He watched as her hair caught the light, making her look even more beautiful. He watched with more difficulty as she leaned back into Harm's embrace, a look of utter contentment evident on her face. He watched as he whispered something in her ear and she turned her head to kiss him, giggling. He watched how they reacted, so unabashedly showing public displays of affection. When he had been with Sarah she had been embarrassed to kiss him in public, maintaining that it made her uncomfortable. Yet here she was having absolutely no problem whatsoever with it. Mic sighed. He'd never had a chance. He wasn't Harm. He watched as Harm wrapped his arms even closer about her and rested his chin on her head and kissed the top of her head. Mic sighed again and shook his head and muttered to Harm's figure from across the yard.

"Lucky bugger."

A/N: So? What did you think? Love it, Hate it? Let me know. I LUUUUUUUUV reviews and emails, so just push that little button at the bottom, even if its just to let me know that you've read it. 

I just felt like writing something fluffy and this was the end result. 


End file.
